Organize after school activities with wipe boards

It was when my youngest of 3 started to get involved in sports that I thought to myself “this is crazy!” I had no idea how I was going to get everyone to where they needed to be post school and following homework. It used to be the case the kids would all play the same sport, but I’m finding as they get older they are each starting to venture off and do their own thing. This sometimes means being in 3 different places at the same time.

Most after school activities seem to start around the 4 – 4:30 timeframe which does not bode too well for my corporate 9-5. This is generally why I need to rely on my support system – aka Grandma and Grandpa. Granted, there are days I can work from home which gives me an opportunity to get them off the bus and shlep them to their destination (generally with phone glued to ear as I wrap up final conference calls).

The spring time sports schedule is now looming in front of my family. As the emails from coaches begin to arrive I take a deep breath and pull out my wipe board pens so I can update the family calendar. A method behind the madness!

The wipe boards you see featured above I found in my neighborhood office supply store. I purchased two so that I can plan ahead by 4 fabulous months! They allow you to add the month and days.

If you have more than one child you can color code or you can use colors as a legend as in my case I use red for special events and occasions. There is not much room to write on a per day basis so you will likely need to come up with your own abbreviations (making sure the spouse understands your cryptic code) and use of arrows also helps to signify week over week events that fall on the same day.

Whatever system you use to get your itinerary in order, this one works for my family and as such I wanted to share. Happy Organizing!